Back to your original post... you say it is a "
kcorp silver PCI wireless G". I have never heard of "
kcorp", so I assume this is a cheap generic WiFi NIC. In the world of computers "you get what you pay for".
There are a lot of different quality products around. In my own personal opinion, I have experienced products from many different manufacurers and it is always clear that spending a little bit extra money avoids problems.
"Good kit" comes at a premium. But I would put into that list companies like
"Linksys, D-Link, Netgear". These are companies who's main product line is based around networking products. They sell decent products with decent support. often they have developed the kit themselves in house. They also care about their customers as they want to see them come back again.
"Okay kit" then brings in companies like
"Sitecom, SMC, Dynamode". These are cheap products which are normally repackaged generic Tiawanese kit. It normally works fine, but you need to be more of a tech to be able to get it setup. When you find good kit, your laughing. But the bad stuff is cheap enough to just chuck in the bin if it don't work. (I got lots of Dynamode 8-port Network Switches that work surprisingly well for £10
)
"Cheap and Nasty Kit" brings in companies like
"Belkin, Trust". Some of their products can be a totaly lottery of pot luck on the quality. Sometimes they work great, othertimes it is easier to setup the Cardboard Box to perform WiFi tasks than use their WiFi kit!! I have lost far toooo many hours to problems caused by these products. Belkin and Trust try and produce a cheap version of every device for computers, but none of these seem to be of decent quality. Always cheap.
"Unbranded/Rebadged" kit then brings up the rear. Included in here are those "one off" brands from companies who you have never heard of, and will never hear of again. Sometimes this kind of kit can be a gold mine of quality which is a bit techy to setup. Othertimes it can be of an even cheaper and nastier quality than Belkin stuff. Total hit and miss with lots of hassles.
All of the above kit will also need updated drivers and firmware at variosu times of it's life. This is also when you see how good the company behind it is when you try dealing with their support sites - especially for older products.
(Note - "Personal Opinion" means that other people will always have a different view. My view is based on 25 years of networking experience, with the last five of those fixing computer problems as part of my own business. Trawl these boards for other opinions and you will soon see common threads of the "good guys" and "bad guys" in hardware
)
